


Ghosts of Our Fathers

by FleetSparrow



Series: Fifty Days of Pupship [26]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Ghosts, M/M, Possession
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-06
Updated: 2018-05-06
Packaged: 2019-05-03 05:35:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14561991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FleetSparrow/pseuds/FleetSparrow
Summary: The Kaiba mansion is being haunted, and they'll need everyone to stop it.





	Ghosts of Our Fathers

**Author's Note:**

> Day 26 of 50 Days of Pupship: Ghosts

"Help us," came the garbled message. "We need... have to... trapped."

Mokuba's face on the video phone went in and out between the static interfering with the call. One thing was clear, though: the Kaiba brothers were in trouble.

"We'll be right there," Yugi said, his eyes wide in concern. "Just hold on!"

The call ended with a screech.

"I'll get my things," Ryou said. "Just give me ten minutes to reach my place and--"

"I'll drive you," Honda said. "It'll be quicker."

"Right."

"We'll head over to Kaiba's and wait for you there," Yugi said. Ryou nodded and he and Honda headed out of the game shop. The others stared at each other in fear.

"Dammit! Of course Kaiba would get himself haunted," Jounouchi said. "If this is some kind of trick to get me home, I'll kick his ass."

"It didn't sound like a trick," Anzu said, looking back at the phone. "Mokuba really sounded terrified."

"Yeah."

Yugi got up and gathered his cards. "I don't know what we're going to face there, but we ought to be prepared."

"You said it," Jonouchi said, grabbing his own deck. "Let's go!"

Yugi smiled. Jounouchi may be scared of ghosts and things, but he always would help out a friend in need. Especially now that the friend was Kaiba. Yugi nodded and together they headed out towards the Kaiba mansion.

By the time they arrived, Ryou and Honda were already there, waiting outside the gate. Ryou was looking for something out of a large backpack. Yugi noticed a Ouija board and what looked like a bundle of sticks.

"What have you got, Ryou?"

"Everything I could think of to deal with a haunting," he said absently. He let out a noise of triumph and pulled out the sticks. "Sage. It's to help clear the air of spirits."

"Ready?" Yugi asked. The others nodded. It was time to face whatever was in the Kaiba mansion.

Honda and Jounouchi pushed open the gates. They swung easily, even though there should have been a guard at them, or at least have been locked. There was no one around.

"This doesn't bode well," Ryou said, lighting his sage. He waved it in front of them as they walked as though clearing a path before them.

They made it up to the doors and Ryou froze, a shiver running up his spine. "There's evil in this house. I can feel it."

Jounouchi eased back a step.

"It feels like when the spirit was here," Ryou added, softly.

Yugi squeezed his shoulder. "We'll face it together."

Ryou looked back and him and nodded. They all grabbed the door handles and pulled.

A wave of stale air hit them as the doors opened. The rushing wind sounded like voices, whispering and laughing at them. Ryou waved his burning sage stick and the air cleared.

"W-what was that?" Jounouchi asked, shivering in his spot.

"Spirits," Ryou said. "Multiple hauntings, maybe. This is going to need a lot more than I thought."

"And the Kaibas are trapped in there?" Anzu asked.

"Seems like it," Honda said. He put his arm around Jounouchi's shoulders. "Come on, buddy. We can do this."

Jounouchi nodded fiercely, not trusting himself to say a word. He puffed up his chest and walked right into the house. The others followed him.

The house was silent, deafeningly so. It was as though the house had not only absorbed sounds, but actively blocked all attempts to make any. Their footsteps made not a sound as they walked on the tiled floors of the entry hall. There were no maids to greet them, no signs of life in the house. It was as though they'd walked into a tomb.

Ryou shivered. "There's a bad feeling in here," he whispered.

"Where do you think the Kaiba brothers are?" Yugi whispered back.

"Why are we whispering?" Jounouchi hissed.

Ryou cleared his throat. "Mokuba!" His voice rang through the empty house. "Kaiba!"

His cries echoed, then faded into the walls of the house.

"They've got to be here," Anzu said.

"Sure they are," Honda said. "Maybe they're upstairs and can't hear us."

"That's a good idea," Ryou said. "Let's search the house."

The walked together from room to room and floor to floor. Each room presented nothing but silence and emptiness.

"This is strange," Ryou said, as they walked along the third floor landing. "Somebody should be here."

"Maybe this is a trick," Yugi said, frowning. He reached for the next door and immediately pulled his hand away. "It burned me!" Sure enough, his skin was red and hot to the touch.

Ryou smudged the sage onto the door, writing the word "peace" on it. "I feel it strongest here," he said. "Like everything is concentrated in this one room."

He pulled out a scarf from his back and wrapped it around his hand. Carefully, he grabbed the door handle and gave it a tug. As soon as it cracked open, the dark wind rushed at them again. It knocked them over against the banister as it poured into the house. The mansion changed instantly from bright and modern to a dark and twisted parody of itself. The chandeliers were cobwebbed. The floors were cracked and shattered. The wood gnarled itself into grotesque shapes. The Kaiba mansion looked more like a house of horrors.

They heard a scream from the first floor.

"Mokuba!"

The Kaiba brothers were down in the hallway. Something was chasing Mokuba. Kaiba held a coat rack as a weapon. With each swing, he hit the ghost chasing his brother, but each time the ghost dissolved around it only to reappear joined together once again.

Yugi leaned over the banister. "Kaiba!"

He looked up. "It's about time you got here," he yelled up at them. Mokuba skidded to a halt beside him and Kaiba wrapped an arm around him. "Get down here!"

The group got back to their feet and started to head down when Ryou let out a gasp. The characters on the door had merged and twisted to form the word "death".

They bounded down the stairs, dodging ghastly spirits and ghouls that reached out for them from the bottom of the stairs. The Kaiba brothers were running towards another room. Mokuba looked over his shoulder and beckoned for the others to follow. Everyone sped up to reach them, as ghosts dive bombed them. They ran inside just as a ghost threw itself at the door. Kaiba threw a fireplace poker through the handles and locked the doors from the inside.

"What took you so long?" he asked, leaning his back against the door.

"What took us? What took you?" Jounouchi said. "Where were you?"

"Here. Where else?"

"You guys walked right past me," Mokuba said. "It's like you didn't even see me."

"We didn't," Yugi said. He explained what they'd seen of the house up until they opened that door.

"Do you have any idea what caused this?" Ryou asked, fishing through his backpack.

"Yes," the Kaibas said.

"Our father," Kaiba said. "Gozaburo."

"He's haunting the place?"

"We finally opened up his old office on the third floor. The door you probably opened," Mokuba said. "Then all of a sudden this started happening."

Something pounded on the doors so hard it sent Kaiba stumbling forward. "It's been getting worse each time."

"What does he want?" Yugi asked.

Kaiba shrugged. "Revenge. To make our lives hell. Who knows? Who cares?" He turned his attention toward Ryou. "Do you have something to stop him?"

"I have things that might help, but that's a powerful entity to deal with," he said. "I brought things to help a general haunting, not a personal spirit."

"Good, that's very helpful," Kaiba said dryly.

"Hey, he's doing the best he can," Jounouchi snapped. "I don't see you offering any ideas."

"My vote is to get the hell out of here and burn it to the ground," Kaiba said. "But it's that first part that's going to be difficult."

"I think we can avoid that," Ryou said. "We just need to get back to the third floor."

Something pounded on the door again.

"You're kidding," Kaiba said.

"No. I think that's where the source of the haunting is. If we can get inside, we might have a chance to face him directly, which means we'll have the chance to find out what he wants."

"And if we don't?"

Ryou looked flustered. "Then we make a new plan? I don't know."

Yugi cut in before Kaiba could say anything else. "I think that's a good idea. Anyone else?"

"He's right," Anzu said. "What other plan do we have?"

"I'm with him," Honda said.

Kaiba rolled his eyes. "Please, stop with the nobility. You want to get back upstairs, fine." He looked at Mokuba, who nodded. "All right. Follow me."

Kaiba moved across the room to the fireplace and tapped on a series of bricks. "These passages are for the servants to move anywhere around the house. We should be able to get up there without trouble."

"How do you know?" Jounouchi said, as another ghost pounded on the door.

"The walls are sheathed with lead," Kaiba said. "Nothing gets through here."

Sure enough, the passage went smoothly. Kaiba led them upstairs and along a thin corridor along the third floor. "Each door leads to one of the rooms," he said, edging along corridor. "But it's reversed from how you see them from the stairs. So that means we should be...."

Ryou gasped as they reached the next door. "Here. I can feel it."

Kaiba pushed open the door, which turned out to be a portrait on the other side. Stepping over the low wall that was the frame, they walked out into Gozaburo's office. The portrait slid shut, locking them back inside. The front door was shut again.

"I didn't close that," Ryou said, pointing at it.

"Maybe he did," Mokuba said, looking back at the portrait. It was a larger than life size portrait of Gozaburo. The portrait looked almost three dimensional. A moment later, Gozaburo stepped out of the painting.

Ryou inhaled sharply. "A solo haunting power," he whispered, looking at the larger than life ghost of Gozaburo.

"I'm glad you're so enthralled," Kaiba said.

Jounouchi took a step in front of Kaiba. "What do you want, you old ghost?"

Gozaburo laughed and the room shook around them. "You're in my realm now. Who are these people?"

"They're our friends," Mokuba said, his hands curled into fists.

"Pathetic." The room quavered again.

Ryou pulled out a mirror and smudged the sage onto it, holding it up towards the ghost. Gozaburo looked at it and laughed. The mirror shattered.

"You think that will be enough to stop me?" He grew larger. "I live off your fear. I feed off your terror. You don't have the power to stop me!"

Kaiba laughed suddenly, full. "Why should I be afraid of you? You couldn't even handle losing once!" He laughed again. "You couldn't win in life, what makes you think you'll win in death?"

Mokuba stared at his brother for a long minute, then joined in with his laughter. The ghost of Gozaburo shook the room, but began to shrink.

"It's only you," Kaiba continued. "I thought I had a real problem to deal with. I haven't been afraid of you since I was ten."

A blast of air hit him, pushing him back towards the walls. Ryou started giggling, covering his mouth with his hands. The ghost shrieked and shrank again.

"That's it," Ryou said. "If we're not afraid, it stops growing."

Kaiba laughed again, his eyes wild, his laugh bordering on hysteria. "What did you expect, father? That I'd roll over if you threw around a few plates?"

Gozaburo burst into flames. A wind started in the room, picking up everything movable and swirling them around. With a roar, he flew at Kaiba, pushing him through the door and into the hall. The others ran after him.

He was slumped against the railings, his head hanging down to his chest. Mokuba arrived at him first, grabbing him by the shoulder.

"Seto! Are you all right?"

Jounouchi kneeled beside him. "Kaiba?" He lifted Kaiba's head.

Kaiba's eyes opened. They were black. "Overconfident fool," he said, the voice of Gozaburo coming out of his mouth. "Thinking he could overpower me." He started to stand, his movements jerky like a puppet on breaking strings.

"Hold him!" Ryou yelled. Honda jumped in to grab Kaiba's legs while Mokuba and Jounouchi pulled him back to the ground. "It's a possession. I know how to deal with possessions."

"Glad somebody does," Honda said, trying to keep from being kicked.

Jounouchi grabbed Kaiba's face. "Kaiba, listen to me. I know you're in there. You've gotta fight him."

Kaiba's body bucked wildly, trying to break free of their hold.

"Seto. Please. You've got to fight him," Jounouchi repeated, getting closer. He kissed him, trying to pull Kaiba back to himself.

The spirit shifted and began filling Jounouchi's mouth with the taste of dirt and bones. With a yell, Ryou inserted a talisman between their lips, sealing off the parts of the spirit from the other. Jounouchi pulled away, the spirit spilling out of his mouth in a river of ectoplasm. Ryou grabbed a bottle from his bag and pulled the talisman off Kaiba's mouth. The spirit poured out of him and Ryou shoved the bottle into it, collecting the foul colored spirit. Once he had collected everything, he sealed the bottle with the talisman, cutting the spirit off for good.

Kaiba panted, his eyes blue and normal again. "What happened?"

"Possession," Ryou said, holding up the bottle. "I caught him."

Kaiba looked curiously at the bottle. "What do we do with it?"

"Bury it. I don't know a better place to seal it."

"We could bury it in his grave," Mokuba said. "We could have his casket exhumed."

"What about burying it in the yard?" Yugi asked. "I don't know if keeping the spirit with the body is a good idea."

"How old are the trees here?" Ryou asked.

Kaiba shrugged. "Longer than the house, I'd guess, but I might be wrong. They could have been replanted whole."

Ryou nodded. "They're old enough." He looked to Jounouchi and Honda. "Help me dig and we'll bury it under the biggest tree. The spirits should keep it locked away."

They got up and went to the garden. The Kaiba mansion once again looked like it should, shiny and sleek in places where there had been cobwebs.

"All that was because of him?" Kaiba asked, holding Mokuba's and Jounouchi's hands as they went.

"All of it, I'd guess," Ryou said. "You never had any trouble like this before?"

"None," Mokuba said. "It just started all of a sudden."

"It's the anniversary of his death," Kaiba said. "It's been ten years."

"Oh, a big anniversary. No wonder he was so powerful."

The Kaiba's watched as the others dug a hole under the largest tree in the yard and placed the bottle gently inside.

"Will that hold him for good?" Mokuba asked.

Ryou shrugged. "I'm not sure. It'll hold for a while, I know that."

"We can face him," Kaiba said. "We've already done it once."

The sun broke over the hill. Daylight. Their experience with the ghost had lasted all night.

"You're welcome to stay," Kaiba said, not quite meeting anyone's eyes with his invitation. "There's plenty of room."

"Thank you, Kaiba," Anzu said, giving him a friendly smile.

He made a noncommittal noise and turned back towards the house, leading the way back inside.

The tree shook in the gentle morning wind, its roots already investigating the new object beside them. Soon they would grow to hold it and perhaps one day it would break. But for now, the bottle lay in the dirt and the world was quiet.


End file.
